Journalists and cameramen focused on the face of the bearded man who left handcuffed from one of the airport lounges in Louisiana, United States. With a serious, gloomy but confident expression, Jeff Doucet was walking accompanied by state authorities.
Suddenly, as the lens focused on Doucet, a thud filled the room. Within seconds, the man had fallen to the ground as the cameraman tried to focus on the mysterious man who had apparently killed the man who had been arrested just minutes before.
In the distance, an FBI agent was yelling desperately: “Why Gary? Why?”
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trust and betrayal
Jeff Doucet was born in 1959 in Port Arthur, Texas. He had six siblings and his childhood was quite complicated, as he grew up in an environment with few resources and was additionally sexually abused.
Although not much is known about his adolescence, it is known that a few years before 1983 he moved to the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in order to open a specialized martial arts academy.
Gary married June, with whom they have four children. The three boys trained in karatê with a local instructor: Jeff Doucet. Joseph Boyce, better known as Jody, was enrolled in 1983, when he was 10 years old. Initially, the – and the entire community – adored the professor. pic.twitter.com/cHHiG4LJ36
— Real Crimes (@RealCrimes) October 13, 2021
It was there where he created an environment full of trust for parents and children who wanted to delve into the philosophy of the oriental world and the art of perseverance, self-control and strength.
So much so, that many parents trusted the teacher when he proposed to take the children to the movies, to eat or simply for a walk. The children loved him, as well as the guardians who saw in him a trustworthy friend and an exemplary human being.
But the real story begins when, at the age of 25, he met a 10-year-old pupil named Jody Plauché, to whom he paid special attention since he entered the academy.
For her school newspaper, Jody described Jeff as “our best friend,” referring to the other kids who were thirty as the 25-year-old face. Gradually, not so much, the instructor, who was also a friend of the Plauché family, went on to harass Jody. pic.twitter.com/Y3qlRci3cG
— Real Crimes (@RealCrimes) October 13, 2021
From the beginning Doucet took him in his car to all kinds of activities, such as going out to the movies, going for ice cream and even taking him home after training. However, under that facade of a good teacher was hidden a harsh truth.
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According to the testimonies that Jody has given in various interviews, the coach he considered his “friend” used to touch him inappropriately during and after class sessions. In fact, in the book that his father wrote, ‘Why Gary, why?’, It is described how the instructor would approach the boy’s intimate areas when stretching.
“Jeff was like, ‘We need to stretch,’ so he’d be playing around my legs. That way, if I got caught by the private zone, I could say, ‘It was an accident; we were just trying to stretch,’” he wrote.
Even so, this was invisible in the eyes of the parents who, satisfied with the education their son was receiving, they were unable to imagine that something like this could be happening to their little one.
The kidnapping of Jody Plauché
When the happy marriage of the Plauché couple fell apartJeff reached out to Jody’s mother, June Plauché, in order to allegedly support her during her breakup. He was affectionate with her, but also with the little one, who, unfortunately, was always the instructor’s target.
This is how the months passed, until on February 19, 1984, Jeff told June that he would take the boy for a short walk. She, obsessed by what the man pretended to be, accepted without hesitation twice.
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In addition, he knew that his country would chat with the situation and that his instructor would have problems. Jody didn’t want to “chat everyone”. The peak of the abuse began on February 19, 1984, when Jeff went home with two Plauchés and asked to take a 15-minute walk with Jody. pic.twitter.com/5pr1n6yIvm
— Real Crimes (@RealCrimes) October 13, 2021
The short 15-minute ride turned into an hour-long drive that would culminate in California. There, once installed in a motel, the martial arts instructor dyed the boy’s blonde hair black in order to pass him off as his son.
His macabre plan seemed perfect: a boy -supposedly unrecognizable- who was traveling with his father across the United States in a road trip (road trip). What could go wrong? Well, despite the situation, Jody’s parents were still watching her son, especially her father, who had received several negative comments from other attendants who took her little ones to the academy.
Several hours after Doucet left with her son, June became alarmed. She called her brother, a deputy sheriff, then Barnett and he drove to Port Arthur, the kidnapper’s hometown, to find his son. But it was all in vain.
But suddenly, when all hope was lost, June received a call from her son. While he was telling her that she was “okay” and who she liked, the FBI was on the line, trying to trace the source of her call.
And bingo! After a few minutes they managed to discover that the perpetrator had taken Jody to the city of Anaheim.
The trial of the century that never happened
The authorities arrested Doucet on February 29, 1984. Likewise, they managed to recover the boy who, surprisingly, asked the Police not to arrest his teacher because he “wanted to stay with him.”
Despite the fact that the authorities considered the case at first as a kidnapping, the family and several parents of the academy who were attentive to the situation took a bitter pill when Mike Barnett, head of the case investigation, explained that both Jody and other children had been sexually abused by Jeff.
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“He used to tell people, ‘If anybody ever touches my kid, I’ll kill him.’ I knew he wasn’t kidding.”
In February 1984, 11-year-old Jody Plauché was kidnapped and sexually-assaulted by his karate teacher, Jeff Doucet. pic.twitter.com/o5q1flepB2
— Ábdül (@datguyabdull) September 4, 2022
According to an article written in March 1984 by the American media ‘The Washington Post’, the tests revealed that the minor was sexually assaulted in the motel where they had stayed.
While it’s true that the report negatively impacted more than one parent, Jody’s dad, Gary Plauché, took it particularly hard.
Filled with anger and pain for what had happened to his son, he quickly began to hatch a plan to be able to collect his thirst for revenge and take ‘justice into his own hand’. That was how on March 16, 1984, he went to the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, in Louisiana, in order to meet the perpetrator.
Jody logo was brought home by police who rescued him, and Jeff was taken back to Baton Rouge, where he would stand trial for his crimes. The case was widely publicized. Gary was interviewed and reported that he didn’t know what to do. “I feel helpless,” he declared. pic.twitter.com/NxpDWtEGBS
— Real Crimes (@RealCrimes) October 13, 2021
The authorities had already informed the Plauché family that Jeff would arrive escorted by the Police on American Airlines flight 595 bound for Louisiana, where he would be tried for kidnapping and for sexually violating several minors.
According to the testimonies collected by the ‘Washington Post’, Gary drank a coffee, walked several meters from the air terminal and then drank a drink of alcohol, waiting for the kidnapper and rapist of his son.
A sentencing weekend
While waiting, Jody’s father received a call from a friend. In it, Gary was telling him all about his plan, until suddenly the sound of a gunshot replaced the man’s voice.
While TV cameras were recording Jeff Doucet, Gary Plauché, who was camouflaged in the phone booth, he pulled the pistol from his boot, turned around and shot him in the head.
“Why Gary? Why?” Agent Mike Barnett, who had been in charge of the investigation, yelled at him.
The news that a child rapist had been murdered by the father of one of the victims shocked the world. For many people it was an act of justice, while for others it was a homicide that had to be punished.
Still, no matter which side you were on, one thing was certain: Gary Plauché had committed a crime and must be tried for his actions.
Plauche was arrested and taken to a nearby jail, from which he was released on bail from a close friend. Later, the man was charged by the Prosecutor’s Office for the crime of second degree murder.But eventually a judge ruled that he posed no threat to the community and gave him five years probation, a seven-year suspended sentence, and 300 hours of community service.
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LAURA NATALIA BOHORQUEZ RONCANCIO
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